Crisis of the French Section 1935-36

by Leon Trotsky, Erwin Wolf (Contribution by), Pierre Frank (Contribution by)

Articles and letters to young militants expelled in 1935 from the rightward-moving Socialist Party of France, explaining the kind of party that must be built to lead a socialist revolution. Notes, glossary, selected bibliography, index. Now with enlarged type.

Genres: Nonfiction

378 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1936

About the author

See also Лев Троцкий

Russian theoretician Leon Trotsky or Leon Trotski, originally Lev Davidovitch Bronstein, led the Bolshevik of 1917, wrote Literature and Revolution in 1924, opposed the authoritarianism of Joseph Stalin, and emphasized world; therefore later, the Communist party in 1927 expelled him and in 1929 banished him, but he included the autobiographical My Life in 1930, and the behest murdered him in exile in Mexico.

The exile of Leon Trotsky in 1929 marked rule of Joseph Stalin.

People better know this Marxist. In October 1917, he ranked second only to Vladimir Lenin. During the early days of the Soviet Union, he served first as commissar of people for foreign affairs and as the founder and commander of the Red Army and of war. He also ranked among the first members of the Politburo.

After a failed struggle of the left against the policies and rise in the 1920s, the increasing role of bureaucracy in the Soviet Union deported Trotsky. An early advocate of intervention of Army of Red against European fascism, Trotsky also agreed on peace with Adolf Hitler in the 1930s. As the head of the fourth International, Trotsky continued to the bureaucracy in the Soviet Union, and Ramón Mercader, a Soviet agent, eventually assassinated him. From Marxism, his separate ideas form the basis of Trotskyism, a term, coined as early as 1905. Ideas of Trotsky constitute a major school of Marxist. The Soviet administration never rehabilitated him and few other political figures.

Reviews

[Simon Berger · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellent lessons. One of the best books by Trotsky on party-building and the fight for genuine marxist ideas. Almost as good as In Defence of Marxism.
The only reasons I am giving it only 3 stars are that 1) it can be quite confusing, with all the different factions, and the context is not explained as well as it could’ve been and 2) the epilogue is pretty bad. Essentially, it’s the editing that is the problem.

[Marc Lichtman · Rating 5 out of 5]

When this was published in 1977, the Socialist Workers Party was still in a faction fight inside the Fourth International, whose leadership was dominated by comrades from the French and Belgian sections. One might call this book a "factional document," but the SWP published a huge amount of its own history and the writings of Trotsky; the European sections, who had (or could have had) as much money had other priorities. This was largely orienting to various ultraleft groups who they considered a "New Mass Vanguard."

To be read along with On France.